LED Mapping - Watchout or not?

[eayli]

Hi everyone!

I have a gig next week and have a problem;

There will be 2 LED screens, one behind and one in front of the dj desk. Their dimensions are 16x4.5m and 16x1.5m. Our LED supplier states that the maximum height of the LED wall can be 4.5 meters with their equipment (I don't know why, anyone can explain?) and width can be 20meters or so without a watchout system. All of my visuals are on 16:6 aspect. To avoid the additional rental cost of the watchout can I use a splitter and map corresponding 16:4.5 (1536x432 pix) and 16:1.5 (1536x144) parts to each screen? Would it work with a splitter? Would the macbook pro recognize both screens seperate? If not, is there any other solution without the watchout?

I'll be using a Macbook Pro Late 2013 with Iris Pro 1536mb graphics. I also have concerns about the performance If the method above (splitter) with given resolutions works.

Since I've always worked on one screen only, I need you guys to help me out with this one,
Thank you in advance!

[drazkers]

You don't need a splitter, that duplicates the signal. What laptop are you using for this gig?

A display port triple head or datapathx4 will do what you need for this. Your AV company is just trying to make some cash by bundling in watch out.

It does add redundancy having watching, but adds latency.

[eayli]

Hi drazkers,

I'll use a MBPro Late 2013 with Intel Iris Pro 1536 graphics.

[eayli]

So If i get a TripleHead2Go;

My composition is 1536x576,
LED Screen 1 is 1532x432 (Behind DJ booth)
LED Screen 2 is 1532x144 (In front of DJ Booth)
When I connect the screens to the TripleHead2Go, I'll do the input selection for screens (top 1532x576 and bottom 1532x144 pieces of the composition) and do the output transformations right? Will Arena recognize these LED screens as separate screens (with their corresponding resolutions)?

[Oaktown]

You mean Intel Iris Pro Graphics with 1536MB, correct? If you not have the NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M on your laptop, you definitely need an external display controller as Drazkers mentioned as your laptop won't be able to drive many layers (check out the benchmark thread).

For your application, the Datapath X4 would be my #1 choice because 1) it's rock solid and 2) you can program it to split the output from your computer (1536x578) into 2 different outputs that match the EDID of your walls (1536x432 & 1536x144) but it's expensive (~$1,500).

Considering the resolution you're using you should be able to stay below 165Mhz so you might not need a dual-link DVI signal but if you do, I find that the apple MiniDP to dual-link DVI adapter works best but make sure you get the newest firmware on it (1.03).

As a side note, it'll be easier to program the Datapath X4 on a PC than on a Mac because on the mac. It's feasible on a Mac you'd have to do it in command line (Terminal) whereas there is a dedicated software on the PC. You can even program it while it's plugged in your mac. I actually program ours using VMWare fusion with Windows 8.1 on the same mac.

Another thing I would recommend since you're not going to be using a VESA resolution is for you to get SwitchResX (http://www.madrau.com/) and program your custom resolution.

If all this seems too much, you could use the Macbook Pro with the NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M and program the two resolution with SwitchResX and output to the two MiniDP display outputs but I'd still get SwitchResX.

[eayli]

Well Datapath is way too expensive for this one-shot gig:/ I also don't have the GT 750M. Only Iris Pro

How about TripleHead2Go? How should i do the setup and the configuration?

[Oaktown]

I don't believe you can program custom resolutions on the Matrox TH2G! You can always test the 2 miniDP outputs on your macbook pro with two monitors to see if you can drive your content. If that works, then get SwitchResx, program your 2 custom resolutions and you're pretty much set.

[eayli]

Allright then, I'll give it a go as soon as possible. Thank you Oaktown! Will post the results here

[Oaktown]

The thing is, you're driving fewer pixels than a 1280x720 comp so you might be OK. Good luck

[drazkers]

With an iris, i'd stick with running through watchout, its just safer and less strain on a system that isn't built for this sort of thing.

But if you really don't want any redundancy.

You don't need a custom resolution as the processor will only take standard resolutions. You don't send out the exact resolution to your processor. In this case each processor will expect 1920x1080 or 1600x900 not 1532x432 or 1532x144.

A dualhead set at dual outsputs of 1920x1080 or 1600x900 will work.